Our advice? Make sure you’re saving those important files locally, too.
Worst-case scenarios
Sometimes, the companies we choose to trust with our data deny access to it.
In 2013, a file storage service called Keepy debuted to help parents manage the clutter that comes with having kids. The idea was simple: Parents could take pictures of their kids’ art, cards, schoolwork and awards, and upload them to the cloud so they could feel better about ditching the paper copies.
Delana Maclean, 43, used Keepy to do just that for the things her son made or brought home — until last year, when she noticed she could no longer easily access the data she uploaded.
She wasn’t the first.
For years, other parents have laid out a litany of issues, such as an inability to upload or export their files due to a lack of customer support, on the company’s Facebook page and in Keepy’s App Store reviews. In some cases, parents were still being charged subscription fees for the service, even though it barely seemed to work. Meanwhile, they said their attempts to get the attention of the company’s support staff, or its co-founder and former CEO Offir Gutelzon, went unanswered.
Apple, for instance, is being sued by a Minnesota tech executive because it has so far refused to restore access to years of data in iCloud after thieves made off with his iPhone and passcode. It’s all because of a quirk of the company’s account protection tools — and he’s not alone, either.
Apple, for instance, is being sued by a Minnesota tech executive because it has so far refused to restore access to years of data in iCloud after thieves made off with his iPhone and passcode. It’s all because of a quirk of the company’s account protection tools — and he’s not alone, either.
Over time, Maclean was able to download some of the files she’s uploaded over the years, but she is worried that other families wouldn’t be as fortunate.
“They thought they were saving [their data] in a secure location in an app that’s been around forever,” Maclean told The Washington Post. “And then all of a sudden, it just stops working. There’s no communication, there’s no nothing. You can’t export your stuff, you can’t do anything.”